The news about Kherson has been one of the most significant wins for the Ukrainian Army, and now that NASAMS have been delivered to their forces, it’s just a matter of time before they can fully dominate the air battle against Russia. In new research, the Ukrainians were shown using the Buk air defense missiles, the missile that was used to shoot down the Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 in 2014.

The Buk Missile system is a soviet-era defense system developed to replace the old Kub. Its official designation is the “9K37,” with a reporting name of SA-11 or “Gadfly.” The Kub Missile first entered service in 1980 with the Soviet Army. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Buk was distributed to other countries like Egypt, Finland, Cyprus, Belarus, Georgia, India, Vietnam, North Korea, and Venezuela.

The Buk fires the 9M38 missiles and is a single-stage solid-fuel missile. It’s quite similar to US-made Tartar and the Navy’s standard air defense missiles. It has semi-active radar guidance, which is excellent for mid-range combat. It can attack targets at a range of 3.4-20.5 km. The maximum engagement altitude is about 25 km, with a hit probability of 70-93%.